Published: Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 2:30 p.m.

Why don't they all accept that the election is behind us and quit playing their juvenile games and get on with the job they were elected to do?

Republican, Democrat or other are supposed to be there for the people of this great nation -- not for themselves and their petty games at our expense.

Beverly D'Angelo

Bradenton

Values still strong

The elections are now behind us and unlike in many "civilized" socialist countries, those of us who didn't have it go our way didn't take to the streets, burn cars and buildings, or riot. Yes, I'm one of those "RED" persons. And 50 percent of this great country accepted what happened peacefully and we've moved on. One thing it did, for sure, was heavily reinforce that our strong traditional conservative values are still rock solid and will remain in place. In fact, I see myself and many others (again, think 50 percent of the country) working even harder now, to make sure we continue to live these same values day by day. And do everything we can to bring about a better result down the road. And back to what we are.

Conservatives have high integrity and moral values, love our family and neighbors, give a lot back, etc. We just work really hard, pay our taxes (way too much) and tend to keep a smile on our faces. The sad thing to me is the fact that the country truly is split 50-50.

If we could only find a little leadership, those colors, red and blue, might begin to blur and blend. Reminds me of a great and powerful race car sitting there with the engine idling. Time to hit the gas and move forward.

Al E. Bavry

Sarasota

A new Enlightenment?

Now that Ayn Rand's posthumous last novel (aka the 2012 Republican electoral fiasco) is acknowledged to be a weapons-grade flop, her hollow hero exposed as an appallingly misinformed narcissist, and "survival of the vicious" resoundingly discredited as a political philosophy, let us agree to abandon such dirty words as "conservative" and "liberal," embrace Thomas Paine's common-sensical observation that we have it within our power to create a more perfect union, and persuade any would-be architects of hereditary dystopias that they really ought to study a little history. We might call this "Project Enlightenment, Part II."

William Anderson

Sarasota

Thanking voters

To all the nice people in Englewood and Port Charlotte who I've recently met, I'm sorry. I met several hundred local citizens at their homes during the last few months while campaigning for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Most people welcomed me as we discussed our candidates and the situation in the U.S.A.

My message is that we didn't really lose. We presented, by most objective viewpoints, the most qualified presidential and vice- presidential candidates possible. A majority of the citizenry turned us down. We did the best job we could and showed up at the polls in strong numbers. In Charlotte County we won by several thousand votes. Thanks for all your efforts.

Perry Kleine

Rotonda West

Anti-union rule hurts

In regard to Dana Milbank's column and another letter, I would like to add that many of those moocher states are also right-to-work states. I wonder how much of that mooching is required because of right-to-work ideals that effectively freeze out unions and keep wages low or stagnant in order to keep corporate profits high.

We see again and again the typical corporate behavior of privatizing the collection of profits while socializing the responsibilities of generating the profits. It appears that to be profitable a corporation has to pass expenses off to the taxpayer, at least in the moocher states. Whether it is paying barely living wages, pollution, cronyism, or corruption, in a sense corporations and their stockholders effectively bill their profitability to the taxpayer. So we have in effect socialism for corporations, which according to conservatives is good, yet somehow socialism for people is bad.

I suppose it is all a matter of which politician is getting paid. And make no mistake: Every corporate tax break, environmental "look the other way" or incentive, regardless of city, county, state or federal, is corporate socialism.

Insist upon union-made, American-manufactured goods. That is the only way to turn the economy around and restrike the balance that has been lost since the ideas of Ronald Reagan and Grover Norquist bled America dry.

Todd W. Hicks

Sarasota

Top Siesta priorities:

Parking, beach

Re: Siesta Beach upgrade plans:

The people from the north are coming for the beach, folks, not to play tennis, not to go to the second floor of an "overlook." They want parking spaces and don't give a hoot about plantings in the lot. Come on, let's get real here. How many people last season gave up after three tries for parking and left with a bad taste in their mouth? Get rid of the tennis, plantings, and extra walkways. Add more handicapped parking closer to the beach, and delay the additional restrooms and concession stand renovation till the future.

You can double the parking for less that $5 million and still be ready for the season, but if not, well, it's your loss. In Jersey, everybody gets to the beach in season.

<p>Work, don't gloat</p><p>Regarding your Nov. 12 front-page headline, "Here's why both parties can gloat":</p><p>Why don't they all accept that the election is behind us and quit playing their juvenile games and get on with the job they were elected to do?</p><p>Republican, Democrat or other are supposed to be there for the people of this great nation -- not for themselves and their petty games at our expense.</p><p>Beverly D'Angelo</p><p>Bradenton</p><p>Values still strong</p><p>The elections are now behind us and unlike in many "civilized" socialist countries, those of us who didn't have it go our way didn't take to the streets, burn cars and buildings, or riot. Yes, I'm one of those "RED" persons. And 50 percent of this great country accepted what happened peacefully and we've moved on. One thing it did, for sure, was heavily reinforce that our strong traditional conservative values are still rock solid and will remain in place. In fact, I see myself and many others (again, think 50 percent of the country) working even harder now, to make sure we continue to live these same values day by day. And do everything we can to bring about a better result down the road. And back to what we are.</p><p>Conservatives have high integrity and moral values, love our family and neighbors, give a lot back, etc. We just work really hard, pay our taxes (way too much) and tend to keep a smile on our faces. The sad thing to me is the fact that the country truly is split 50-50.</p><p>If we could only find a little leadership, those colors, red and blue, might begin to blur and blend. Reminds me of a great and powerful race car sitting there with the engine idling. Time to hit the gas and move forward.</p><p>Al E. Bavry</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>A new Enlightenment?</p><p>Now that Ayn Rand's posthumous last novel (aka the 2012 Republican electoral fiasco) is acknowledged to be a weapons-grade flop, her hollow hero exposed as an appallingly misinformed narcissist, and "survival of the vicious" resoundingly discredited as a political philosophy, let us agree to abandon such dirty words as "conservative" and "liberal," embrace Thomas Paine's common-sensical observation that we have it within our power to create a more perfect union, and persuade any would-be architects of hereditary dystopias that they really ought to study a little history. We might call this "Project Enlightenment, Part II."</p><p>William Anderson</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Thanking voters</p><p>To all the nice people in Englewood and Port Charlotte who I've recently met, I'm sorry. I met several hundred local citizens at their homes during the last few months while campaigning for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Most people welcomed me as we discussed our candidates and the situation in the U.S.A.</p><p>My message is that we didn't really lose. We presented, by most objective viewpoints, the most qualified presidential and vice- presidential candidates possible. A majority of the citizenry turned us down. We did the best job we could and showed up at the polls in strong numbers. In Charlotte County we won by several thousand votes. Thanks for all your efforts.</p><p>Perry Kleine</p><p>Rotonda West</p><p>Anti-union rule hurts</p><p>In regard to Dana Milbank's column and another letter, I would like to add that many of those moocher states are also right-to-work states. I wonder how much of that mooching is required because of right-to-work ideals that effectively freeze out unions and keep wages low or stagnant in order to keep corporate profits high.</p><p>We see again and again the typical corporate behavior of privatizing the collection of profits while socializing the responsibilities of generating the profits. It appears that to be profitable a corporation has to pass expenses off to the taxpayer, at least in the moocher states. Whether it is paying barely living wages, pollution, cronyism, or corruption, in a sense corporations and their stockholders effectively bill their profitability to the taxpayer. So we have in effect socialism for corporations, which according to conservatives is good, yet somehow socialism for people is bad.</p><p>I suppose it is all a matter of which politician is getting paid. And make no mistake: Every corporate tax break, environmental "look the other way" or incentive, regardless of city, county, state or federal, is corporate socialism.</p><p>Insist upon union-made, American-manufactured goods. That is the only way to turn the economy around and restrike the balance that has been lost since the ideas of Ronald Reagan and Grover Norquist bled America dry.</p><p>Todd W. Hicks</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Top Siesta priorities:</p><p>Parking, beach</p><p>Re: Siesta Beach upgrade plans:</p><p>The people from the north are coming for the beach, folks, not to play tennis, not to go to the second floor of an "overlook." They want parking spaces and don't give a hoot about plantings in the lot. Come on, let's get real here. How many people last season gave up after three tries for parking and left with a bad taste in their mouth? Get rid of the tennis, plantings, and extra walkways. Add more handicapped parking closer to the beach, and delay the additional restrooms and concession stand renovation till the future.</p><p>You can double the parking for less that $5 million and still be ready for the season, but if not, well, it's your loss. In Jersey, everybody gets to the beach in season.</p><p>Allan Stonehouse</p><p>Englewood</p>